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Definition of syncretism in US English:

syncretism

noun

1The amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.

‘In these concluding remarks, I shall return to the various issues concerning religious syncretism, which introduced this article.’

‘The prevailing assumption in this use of syncretism is that world religions have been incorporated by Javanese into local versions that are somehow less authentic and more related to customary practice than religion.’

‘While often viewed as uniformly Pagan, there has been an increase in the diversity, expression, and syncretism of religious belief systems.’

‘The mural represents the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the religious syncretism there.’

‘Candomble is often presented in the literature as a religion born of syncretism between Catholicism and the Yoruba gods and liturgies of West Africa.’

‘I should also mention that I loathe religious syncretism in all its forms.’

‘My sense is that one's attitude to syncretism depends largely on how one understands the dynamics of religion and human religiosity.’

‘In addition, there is often a layer of syncretism between Buddhism and animism.’

‘Concomitantly, there has been a shift from religion to spiritualisms manifested in a trend toward syncretism and the simultaneous identification with different traditions.’

‘Religious syncretism is manifest in almost every aspect of the majority of Javanese rites.’

‘Speaking of which, in terms of religious syncretism it is interesting to see how frequently quantum uncertainty is starting to pop up in discussions about religion.’

‘But how does one avoid falling into a vague religious syncretism made up of different expressions of religion?’

‘The result is a limited understanding of basic biblical truths, leading to corrupted theology, syncretism and shallow commitment.’

‘Inculturation always runs the risk of syncretism, in all cultures without exception.’

‘The marriage prohibition consequently played into the concern over intermarriage as a source of religious syncretism and idolatry.’

2Linguistics The merging of different inflectional varieties of a word during the development of a language.

‘This is not the final word on problems with syncretism; there are many more that I don't have the space or the insight to point out here.’

‘For each language all instances of syncretism are recorded.’

‘In the current literature, instances of syncretism are being increasingly cited to support particular models of morphology and feature structure.’

‘A good framework for morphology would cover the whole territory, rather than carving out one small portion of the territory for a special Missing Form treatment, admitting syncretism everywhere else.’

Origin

Early 17th century: from modern Latin syncretismus, from Greek sunkrētismos, from sunkrētizein ‘unite against a third party’, from sun- ‘together’ + krēs ‘Cretan’ (originally with reference to ancient Cretan communities).